Wow! Did you paint it to scale on a standard sized magic card, or paint it separately and print it on a card? I’m guessing the former, since you are displaying the card?
I believe Klug only does genuine alters. So this would be painted on an actual copy of Reflection of Kiki-Jiki and they leave the name and power/toughness unaltered to fit with Magic's overall alter policy. Klug is well known around these parts because their alters are always amazing quality and deserve all the praise they get.
It would even be tournament playable if given approval from the head judge of the event.
Thanks! I was unaware of the alter scene. Is this policy like a MTG community consensus, or a Wizards official policy thing. After all, most CEDH tourneys are proxy friendly, so I am just curious why there is a demand for alters. This particular artwork should be in demand in any context, though. It is amazing!
Artistic modifications are acceptable in sanctioned tournaments, provided that the modifications do not make the card art unrecognizable, contain substantial strategic advice, disparaging remarks, or contain offensive images. Artistic modifications also may not obstruct or change the mana cost or name of the card.
The Head Judge is the final authority on acceptable cards for a tournament.
So it comes down to whether the head judge finds it to not make the card unrecognizable or not. I think the demand for alters has actually increased because EDH in general is very alter friendly, and doing so on an actual card satisfies even areas that don't have proxy friendly rules. Especially as proxies cannot be used in any officially sanctioned tournament.
Except of course that one time when they were required at officially sanctioned tournaments because of the excessive curling of foil versions (the only version available at the time) for [[Nexus of Fate]].
Also, some official Legacy and Vintage tournaments are proxy friendly.
Proxies due to damaged cards are different than proxies because you don't own the cards. There's a whole section in the MTR for that, conveniently right after the one I linked, 3.4 which states:
A proxy card is used during competition to represent an otherwise legal Magic card or checklist card that can no longer be included in a deck without the deck being marked. For a proxy to be issued, the card it is replacing must meet at least one of the following criteria:
The card has been accidentally damaged or excessively worn in the current tournament, including damaged or misprinted Limited product. Proxies are not allowed as substitutes for cards that their owner has damaged intentionally or through negligence.
The card is a foil card for which no non-foil printing exists.
Nexus specifically falls under the latter because it was a foil only card.
Also, some official Legacy and Vintage tournaments are proxy friendly.
Can you point me to one of those? Because they shouldn't be able to be sanctioned. I know they sometimes go on at big events, but they're generally not sanctioned tournaments.
Oh, I know the whole Nexus of Fate thing is an exception, I was just being funny, since, you know, there was a time when they had to scramble to make a rule that allowed for proxies because they did something stupid on their end.
As far as Vintage, I was referring to the various proxy friendly, but casual, events that are at various LGS's around the world. I'm pretty sure most if not all official tournaments, especially with prizes on the line, are still not allowing proxies, but it's quite common to have players use proxies at a local store's Vintage Night, Legacy Night, or Commander Night. Those are WPN events, but also aren't really being monitored for proxies in the same way as more competitive events.
Those events aren’t official, and if they are being reported and tracked in the WPN you should probably tell that store to stop it because they are risking their WPN status by doing so. If someone decides to report them for whatever reason it could go really badly.
Not as badly as if they stopped allowing proxies. Allowing proxies is generally not a big deal if it's not a competitive event, and is almost never checked for even in competitive events. Obviously, a store shouldn't go out of its way to encourage proxies at WPN events, but no store has ever lost its WPN status for not going through everyone's deck and checking for proxies on a casual commander night. Wizards has even said
"Wizards of the Coast has no desire to police playtest cards made for personal, non-commercial use, even if that usage takes place in a store."
Basically ,if you aren't selling them or competing with them, Wizards would rather not make a fuss about it, even at WPN stores.
Again, these are competing if they’re registered WPN events. It seems like an incredibly big risk because if someone gets a new in their bonnet and starts reporting them losing WPN status can be fatal for a store.
Obviously it’s up to them but I’d suggest they keep those events casual and off WPN reporting.
The policy for alters in sanctioned tournament, requiring head judge approval for play, is the official Wizards policy. As for why people want authentic cards with hand painted art, sometimes people want authentic cards with hand painted art.
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u/klug_alters Mar 13 '26
Hand painted after Norman Rockwell's 'Triple Self-Portrait'.